


angels in the snow

by Toe



Category: Tales of Berseria
Genre: Awkward Flirting, Cooking, M/M, Sharing a Bed, Snowball Fight, Tales Secret Santa 2017, bc of course bc it's zaveid, but mostly just emotions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-20 04:10:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13138788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Toe/pseuds/Toe
Summary: Eizen and Zaveid share a cabin in Meirchio while working out their ~feelings~, featuring awful flirting/innuendo at least once per scene





	angels in the snow

**Author's Note:**

> this was a tales secret santa gift for tenyaiida over on tumblr!!!!!!

Zaveid had been standing outside a little cabin in Meirchio for far too long, long enough that he had to shake off the snow blanketing his head, long enough that he had trodden down all the snow within three yards of the door.

Zaveid took a deep breath, raised his hand to knock, then lowered it. Again. He sighed, licked his lips, screwed up his face in thought, simultaneously giving himself a pep talk and figuring out what he would say.

It didn’t take much courage to knock on doors, and Zaveid had courage in spades. He could knock on doors for days. This door in front of him wasn’t any more daunting.

Except it was, because Eizen was behind it. Zaveid had been alone for too long and he needed someone, and he needed them to not know how badly he needed them, but showing up at all was as good as admitting it. As for what Zaveid was going to say when Eizen opened the door, he was torn between “Hey there, hot stuff, did you miss me?” and “Hey there, hot stuff, I missed you.”

Zaveid shuffled his feet, optimizing his door knocking stance, and raised his hand again.

Before Zaveid had a chance to knock, Eizen opened the door from the other side.

For a moment, the two stared at each other, wide-eyed with shock. Zaveid looked away first. “Hey,” he stuttered.

Eizen frowned and crossed his arms. “What are you doing here?”

“I, uh.” Zaveid swallowed. Then, because his nerves were stupid, he gave Eizen a carefree smirk. “You could at least try looking happy to see me. Oh, Zaveid, It’s been weeks since we’ve seen each other! I missed you. Thanks, buddy, I missed you too.”

Zaveid clapped Eizen on the shoulder and pushed past him into the house. It was cozy with only a few rooms - a combined kitchen and sitting area with two doors leading to what he assumed were a bedroom and a bathroom. Eizen shut the door and trailed behind Zaveid as he took the house in.

“Nice place you have here,” Zaveid commented.

“The residents are still spooked about demons, so the town is all mine temporarily.”

“Huh. Two things,” Zaveid said. “What are you going to do when temporarily is over?”

Eizen shrugged. “Send a sylphjay to the Van Eltia. Benwick said he’d come get me any time anywhere.”

“Why haven’t you yet?” Zaveid said, getting comfortable in a plush chair even as Eizen stayed standing.

“There were others here for a while. And now, I don’t know what, but I have a feeling there’s a loose end somewhere, and I don’t like leaving things unfinished. If I focus long enough, it should come to me.”

“So you’re relaxing in a cabin for a while. Alright, I can get behind that.”

“What was the second thing you had to say?” Eizen asked.

Zaveid batted his eyelashes. “Don’t you mean the town is all ours?”

Eizen barked a single laugh. “So it is.”

\--

Eizen had been keeping the house well-stocked with firewood. Even though malakhim didn’t mind the cold, Zaveid had to admit the warm glow cast by the fire was nice. It also meant that Eizen could cook. He made fried rice, a fairly simple dish so that his curse wouldn’t ruin anything, but Zaveid appreciated it. It had been a while since anyone had served him a hot meal.

When he wasn’t cooking, Eizen spent most of the day sitting by the fire reading. Zaveid spent most of the day almost breaking things in the cabin while pretending not to stare at Eizen in his dumb glasses smiling faintly at his book.

Eizen snapped his book shut while Zaveid was seeing how far back he could tip his chair and still catch it with wind magic. The sound startled him and he and his chair tumbled to the ground.

“Whoops. Sorry,” Zaveid said, remorseless.

Eizen walked over and offered a hand to help Zaveid up. “It’s getting late, so I’m turning in. No one’s come back to the village, so there are plenty of places where you could stay.”

“Here’s fine,” Zaveid said. He could feel his throat closing up at the thought of spending the night alone. Losing Theodora had been a big blow to him, one he was only just starting to get over. But there had been a whole world of people out there for him to spend time with, talk with, drink with, laugh with. Now he was invisible and they were all gone. He was just a broken man in an empty world. He couldn’t do that anymore.

For a moment, Zaveid was worried that Eizen would kick him out, but then he smiled. “Sounds good to me. Bedroom’s over here.” Eizen opened the door closest to the fireplace.

There was only one bed. It made sense - there was only one bedroom. Maybe the place was owned by a childless couple. Still, while part of Zaveid had expected that there would be one bed, until that moment, he hadn’t made the connection that he and Eizen would be sharing it.

Zaveid’s face split into a wide grin. “Looks nice. Hey, Eizen, I hope you’re a cuddler.”

“Not for a long time.” Eizen’s face hardened.

That face was unacceptable. A pit formed in Zaveid’s stomach as he realized that it was probably his fault that Eizen looked like that. He was probably overstepping his bounds, making a nuisance of himself. He pitied Eizen for having to stay in his company.

“That’s about to change! Baby, I’ll cuddle you all night long,” Zaveid said. He was overcompensating, he knew, but he couldn’t stand the thought that Eizen might be upset with him. He had to pretend it wasn’t true. He snaked an arm around Eizen’s neck and prayed in his head that Eizen might smile at him again.

He didn’t. “I’m going to get ready,” Eizen said, shaking off Zaveid’s arm.

Zaveid stared for a moment as Eizen shrugged off his jacket, facing the corner of the room. Zaveid swallowed down his stupid jokes about watching him strip - he’d done enough damage already. Instead, he focused on getting his own clothes off and piling them into a heap in the corner.

“I’m afraid I didn’t bring my jam jams,” Zaveid said, diving into the mattress. “So you get a nice view to appreciate.” He struck a suggestive pose.

Eizen lifted his gaze from the pants he was neatly folding to rake his eyes down Zaveid’s body, pausing at his briefs. “It’s fine. Actually, I’ve been sleeping in the nude, but tonight I’ll keep my underwear on to preserve your virtue.”

Zaveid was glad that Eizen turned to add his pants to his neat stack of clothes then so that he couldn’t see how flustered Zaveid was. “Hey, don’t stop on my account, pretty boy,” he said, and if his voice was weaker than usual, maybe it was just because he was tired.

Eizen laughed a little at that, and it was like the earlier tension never existed. With the room dark and Eizen sliding into bed beside him, with the little huff of annoyance he gave when Zaveid slid an arm around his waist, making good on his promise of cuddles, he was more content and comfortable than he had been in a long time.

\--

“Nothing better than a good, hot bath,” Zaveid said, making a show of stretching. “You should join me next time.”

“Glad you enjoyed it.” Eizen didn’t look up from his book.

“I always enjoy it when things get steamy,” Zaveid said in the most boisterous voice he could manage. He just needed Eizen to look at him.

“Mm.”

It took all Zaveid’s willpower to not snap at Eizen. He had come to Meirchio for a little companionship, but he was just as invisible there as anywhere else.

And it was just like him to be whining for attention after a few days alone, wasn’t it? After all, what were a few days when he’d lived for centuries? He could take care of himself, at least for a little while, and there were plenty of other malakhim out there.

But damn it, he liked this one.

Zaveid gave a small kick to the table leg to let out some of his frustration. To his horror, the leg gave out and the whole table collapsed, falling on a chair and smashing that, too.

“Shit,” Zaveid said, whirling to look at Eizen.

“Shit,” Eizen echoed. “This home belongs to somebody.”

The pain in Eizen’s voice paralyzed Zaveid. He desperately searched for some sort of joke to lighten the mood, but found himself at a loss.

Eizen stood, and for a terrifying moment, he was silent. Then, he strode to the door, muttering, “Probably low on firewood after the bath.” With a slam and a swirl of cold air, he was gone.

Zaveid kicked one of the remaining table legs. It held.

\--

By the time Eizen returned, Zaveid had made some makeshift repairs to the furniture. The damage was all at the joints, so it was mostly a matter of sticking the pieces back together. He’d fix them up better later, when he had time to get supplies.

After making things right with the owners of the house, he had to make things right with Eizen. He decided to cook, just the way Eizen had done for him the day before. Donned a stupid apron and everything. He needed Eizen to know that he cared, that he wasn’t just there to make bad jokes and trouble.

Even though he was careful, the cookies came out a little overdone because of course they did because Zaveid had done nothing but screw up since he had arrived. He hoped Eizen would at least appreciate the way they filled the air with the warm scent of vanilla.

Eizen looked a lot calmer when he returned, and Zaveid gave him a big smile. He wiped his hands on his apron, which made him feel unusually domestic. “Welcome home, honey.”

“What’s this?” Eizen asked.

Zaveid held out a cookie for him. "Here. for you.”

Eizen took the cookie and examined it closely like it was a relic of a long lost civilization. He said nothing.

“It’s to say sorry for.” Zaveid gestured at the table, searching for the right words. “For all that desecration I did." And lordy, when Eizen's blue eyes locked on his, did he want to do more. Zaveid swallowed down all his inappropriate half-jokes, though. He needed Eizen to understand that he knew he’d screwed up.

Eizen shook his head. “No, I should be apologizing to you. This is what the Reaper’s curse does to everyone around me. You, my sister. Maybe it was wrong of me to let you stay in the first place, but I wanted--” He sighed. “It’s why no one should stay around me.”

That was what all of Eizen’s moodiness had been about, Zaveid realized. Every time Eizen avoided eye contact or brushed off his dumb remarks, he had been pulling back because he was worried, not annoyed.

The thought was infuriating.

“No one except your pirate crew, right?” Zaveid said flatly.

“They know what they’re getting into.”

“So do I,” Zaveid said, his voice rising to a near shout. “You don’t have to beat yourself up for my decisions. Especially when I’d make them again.”

When Eizen stared at him with shock, Zaveid almost wanted to apologize for getting so loud. He’d never apologize for what he said, though, so he kept his mouth shut.

“Thanks,” Eizen said, and raised the cookie to his mouth, and like that, they had an understanding.

Zaveid leaned against the wall and crossed his ankles. “So, what is this book that you’ve been reading so intently?”

“It’s about the history of religious practices in Southgand.”

“Religious practices in Southgand, huh? What are they like?” Zaveid asked. He didn’t care, not really, but it was refreshing how open and animated Eizen got after he had spent so much of the last couple days brooding. Zaveid could have listened to him explaining religious history forever.

\--

What started as idle chatter and a pleasant stroll through the town eventually devolved into a snowball fight that might have been better described as a snowball war. Eizen quickly got intense, and Zaveid got caught up in his energy. 

Once they were both soaked and the sun was dipping towards the horizon, Zaveid crept out from behind the wall he had been using as shelter with his hands in the air. “I surrender. The battle is yours.”

Eizen smirked and dropped the armful of snowballs he had been carrying. “Finally realized you’re no match for me, huh?”

“Mm. Yep.” Worn out from their fight, Zaveid flopped down in the snow and waved his arms.

“What are you doing?” Eizen asked, amused.

“It’s an ancient tradition, passed down through generations,” Zaveid said, smiling at the way Eizen perked up at that. “It’s known as a snow malak.”

Eizen frowned.

“Leaving a mark, I guess. Humans can’t see us anymore, but like this, they’ll know we were here.” He missed humans. “Here, you do it, too.”

“I’d prefer to stay dry,” Eizen said.

Too late for that. Zaveid packed together a quick snowball and threw it weakly at Eizen’s face, but he batted it away before it could hit. “You scared of getting down and dirty?”

“Fine.” Eizen laid himself on the snow beside him, and like that, in their own small way, they had claimed the town as their own.

\--

The first humans started trickling back into town the next day, just a few cautious scouts checking that it was safe to return. Eizen watched them from the cabin window, expressionless.

“It’s about time we left,” Eizen said.

Panic welled up inside Zaveid. He wasn’t ready for them to go their separate ways, for Eizen to go back to his ship and leave him as a lone nomad. “What about your loose end? Has it come to you yet?”

Eizen stood from his perch, moving to stand before Zaveid. “Aye. I think it has,” he said, smiling slyly.

Oh.

Zaveid couldn’t help but smile back. "Are you saying I'm loose? Because baby, you're not wrong, but there are more polite ways--"

Eizen grabbed his jaw and shut him up with a tender kiss. Zaveid’s eyes slid shut and he lost himself in the sensation he’d been dreaming of since he first arrived. Then, all too quickly, Eizen pulled away.

“We could stay one more night,” Zaveid suggested.

“I’d like that.”

“And I’ve been in need of a good adventure. Think there’s room aboard your ship for one more?”

“There just might be, for someone who knows what he’s getting into,” Eizen said.

“No. You make this too easy,” Zaveid said. Then, unable to help himself, “What I’m getting into tonight!”


End file.
